Barclay Powers is an author and futurist filmmaker. He earned
his Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies from Columbia University
and has an extensive background as an independent scholar. He has
studied Chinese, Tibetan and Indian meditation, yoga and martial arts
traditions for more than 30 years. Powers is currently releasing
multiple media projects worldwide in film and print, related to the
evolution of consciousness based on his studies with numerous
masters of ancient wisdom traditions. His most recent film, The Lost
Secret of Immortality, based on his book, won best
spiritual/religious/Christian film at the Great Lakes International Film
Festival, 2012, the Silver Palm Award at the Mexico International Film
Festival, 2012 and best spiritual documentary at the New York
International Film Festival, 2011. See his website at
www.lostsecretofimmortality.com for information on the book,
graphic novel and film.

Buddha Nature

Inner Illumination and Evolutionary Emergence

Barclay Powers

The problem with the Integral definition of God, evolution, and Eros is that it's still saying that the world is created by spirit or love.

The concept of evolutionary emergence defining a philosophical movement based on greater and greater, deeper and higher levels of awareness has a number of significant problems. It could be argued, for example, that the theistic nonduality that represents the Integral definition of spiritual enlightenment is an assumed given with very little actual evidence. This given so shapes the evolutionary narrative, that crucial structures of nontheistic enlightened consciousness evolution have been unknowingly excluded from consideration. The major problem of creating a twenty first century model of consciousness evolution is the Judeo-Christian worldview, which is severely handicapped by a confused transcendental absolute. The Buddha nature, the seed, flower and fruit, of meditation and enlightenment, has not been accurately explained by Western scholars.

The Western concept of the transcendental absolute, whether conservative, liberal or Integral, takes the role of the unreliable narrator in the story of consciousness evolution. The story of a loving God is easily refuted by historical and scientific evidence, as the leading atheists Dawkins, Harris, Dennett and Hitchens have successfully pointed out in their books and debates with religious believers. Their basic premise is that the evolution of civilization is being held hostage by confused interpretations of ancient books like the Bible and the Koran, which are supposed to have been written by God. As they point out, the theistic narrative is controlled by pre-rational superstition that prevents modern definitions of justice, freedom, and human rights from being accepted and understood in many cultures. As Sam Harris notes, the entire political structure of the United States is controlled by an ancient outdated religious narrative, which has been rejected successfully by much of Europe. Unfortunately, because of Western cultural bias, none of these writers has the capacity to consider the meditation paradigm of nontheistic enlightenment as an alternative narrative, which has been proven to be true for thousands of years by Asian cultures. The concept of Nirvana has simply been rejected, and left out of the story of the evolution of consciousness. The idea that the deepest level of consciousness in human beings is enlightenment has not even been considered.

The problem with the Integral definition of God, evolution, and Eros is that it’s still saying that the world is created by spirit or love. This reduces a scientific explanation of spiritual enlightenment to God is love, which doesn’t really explain anything. There is very little evidence of any kind that matter is shaped by love at a molecular or cellular level, unless you consider the placebo effect to be scientific proof. However, reducing the suffering of sentient beings, and leading them to enlightenment, can be said to be the essence of the Bodhisattva model of higher consciousness. The central problem of Western religion, science and philosophy, whether Integral or conventional, is an incomplete understanding of enlightened human potential. The Buddha nature/embryo of Buddhahood has not been understood.

The Angulimaliya Sutra

This sutra has the Buddha teaching the bodhisattva Manjushri that practicing the spiritual life is possible only because of the embryo of enlightenment, the tathagatagarbha or atma-dhatu, the ‘essence of Self', which results in the Dharmakaya/Original Face, at the time enlightenment is achieved. He states:

Mańjusri, people churn milk because they understand that butter is present therein. Why do people not churn water? Because that substance is not present there. Likewise, Mańjusri, people maintain moral discipline (sila) and engage in the holy life (brahmacarya) because of the existence of the Tathagata-garbha.

Moreover, Mańjusri, people who want gold and are endowed with discernment, dig in cliffs. Why do they not dig in trees? They dig in rocks where gold-ore (suvarna-dhatu) is present, but they do not dig in trees, where there is no gold. Likewise, Mańjusri, people who discern the presence of the dhatu [i.e., buddha-dhatu, which means buddha principle] think to themselves, "I shall become a buddha" and so maintain the moral discipline and engage in the holy life. Furthermore, Mańjusri, if there were no dhatu, the holy life would be pointless. Just as butter will never be produced from water even if one were to churn it for a billion years, similarly there would be no benefit for those attached to a self who engages in the holy life and the moral discipline if there were no essence of Self principle [atma-dhatu].

A number of pre-modern nondual enlightenment traditions, Zen, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, Taoist, which Integral Theory claims are legitimate systems of inner illumination, completely disagree in terms of both theory, practice, and direct experience, with many of the Integral philosophy of evolution’s definitions of spiritual awakening and progression. The reality of experiencing the true golden nondual absolute in any of these systems, achieved by thousands of individuals who saw their Original Face, is based on a theory and practice of energetic regression. The Integral view is strikingly dualistic, for what claims to be a nondual evolutionary philosophy. Forward progression is good, and backwards is bad, spiritually, according to the essence of the pre/post trans doctrine’s definition of enlightened nonduality.

The fact that Zen, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, and Taoism are based on a hypothesis of enlightened origin, which is proven by the union of the three bodies, physical, subtle and super subtle and conflicts with the Western concept of evolution, is completely omitted from Integral philosophy. The super subtle body is the dormant Tathagatagharba embryo of Buddhahood, which becomes the Dharmakaya/Original Face, which is dissolved/returned to void at the completion stage of meditation, which results in Buddhahood. Integral Theory has essentially created its own confused definition of spiritual enlightenment which conflicts with both science and genuine nondual spiritual traditions, while claiming to be superior by virtue of all inclusiveness. Because genuine nontheistic spiritual enlightenment has not been understood, Integral Theory has merely created a new model of classical unreliable narration, which prevents authentic inner illumination from being understood or experienced.

The problem is that Integral generalizations have omitted the actual Asian definition of nontheistic three-body union, (physical, subtle and super subtle) which describes the completion stage of meditation as complete energetic regression, which results in enlightenment. The classical union of yin subtle and yang super subtle bodies, the Coniunctio, is described as the recreation of conception in many nondual enlightenment traditions. This means that enlightenment is based on regressing consciousness back to the origin point of the body, the embryo of Buddhahood, which is also the enlightened origin of the species according to nontheistic contemplative traditions. Dzogchen refers to this proven fact as the base, which results in the fruitthe Dharmakaya, after the path has been successfully traversed. From the perspective of enlightenment, the union of the three bodies, these stages are non-sequential, and represent the true nature of human consciousness. This inner alchemical method of opening the chi/prana meridians of the body, and awakening the third eye, is based on moving the primordial spark of the starting point of the body, the embryo of enlightenment, from the lower torso to the brain. The goal of meditation, the Original Face or Dharmakaya, is achieved by uniting the enlightened pre-birth consciousness, or yang super subtle body, with the post-birth yin subtle body.

Kundalini

Ultimate awakening, Buddhahood, is based on energetic regression, which is the real meaning of returning the Dharmakaya/embryo of enlightenment to void. This means that the Integral definition of evolutionary awakening actually prevents a scientific understanding of enlightenment, because the theory of evolutionary emergence is completely contradicted by the actual mechanism of nontheistic spiritual awakening. Chinese medical descriptions of enlightenment are extremely accurate and scientific in modern times. China was not colonized like India, and the qi gong tradition of inner illumination is at a post-rational stage of scientific understanding. Most importantly, Taoism explains Buddhist enlightenment far more clearly than many of the branches of Buddhism, which separate the cultivation of the mind, from the refinement of the inner energy of the human reproductive system, which results in seeing the real Original Face. As Derrida has pointed out, interpretation is translation, and translation is transformation. Integral Theory has mistranslated the entire process of inner energy refinement that results in enlightenment, and transforms the true experience of the nondual absolute, into an American myth of inflated theistic exceptionalism. The problem here is that the experts have not understood the theory and practice of meditation and enlightenment.

The Integral Theory of an evolutionary philosophy of emergence has never understood the internal mechanism of real enlightenment, the union of the three bodies - the Trikaya. Integral Theory uses a confused Zen and Advaita Vedanta description of nonduality, which is really just “be here now awakening”, “everything is Spirit”, combined with evolution, which has nothing to do with real Buddhahood. The understanding of mysticism was never correct to begin with, because of Western cultural bias, and an incomplete understanding of the actual completion stage of meditation, which results in physiological inner illuminationthe opening of the third eye.

When the psychology of Integral Theory is examined it reveals the problem, which is pseudo-satori contaminating a true understanding of the meditation paradigm, which has been well documented and described as embryonic enlightenment for thousands of years in Asia. Integral Theory suffers the paradigm destroying fundamental flaw of a misunderstanding of the highest stage of consciousness evolution. Because the real Original Face has not been experienced, enlightenment/immortality has not been understood as the consequence of regressing consciousness back to its enlightened point of origin. Embracing singularity, the Coniunctio, the union of subtle and super subtle bodies, dissolves the causality mechanism of the human subtle body structure. These nontheistic nondual systems describe primordial or original enlightened mind, as the return to the source, enlightened consciousness, the inner energy system of the body, created between conception and birth.

The Dzogchen tradition, considered to be the most advanced Buddhist system by Tibetans, is based on a narrative of degenerative evolution, in direct contrast with Integral Theory. The Dharmakaya is the primordial enlightened source, or base of this system, which results in the fruit of complete liberation when fully realized. To change this hypothesis of primordial enlightenment, to conform to an Integral model of evolution destroys the entire working theory and practice of the Dzogchen path, and is completely unacceptable. The territory has been changed to fit the map, in an extremely dishonest way. The layperson, who just wants to hear that God is love, is unable to recognize the intentional distortion of the original authentic Dzogchen system which has been proven to be accurate over the last three thousand years. The Western cultural bias is so extreme that it has purposefully chosen to modify primordial realization, and has destroyed the real theory, practice and direct experience of liberation in the process. This means that in its current form Integral Theory prevents an accurate understanding of awakening, the nondual goal of spiritual evolution. Vedic systems have obviously not understood Buddhahood, or they would be Buddhists. Buddha rejected them completely, because he didn’t believe that they resulted in enlightenment. In its current form Integral Theory cannot explain genuine enlightenment, and this needs to be addressed and corrected.

The pre-rational stage of consciousness is the actual mechanism of post-rational Buddhahood. The future of science may be an understanding of this process of regressive evolutionary nonduality based on embryonic enlightenmentthe union of the three bodies, the real Zen, Dzogchen, Mahamudra, and Taoist lineage standard of enlightenment. Integral Theory has misunderstood shamanism, inner alchemy, and inner yoga. Post-rational enlightened pre-birth consciousness has been defined as pre-rational regression, which is bad, according to the fundamentally dualistic flawed evolutionary narrative of awakening, which prevents the enlightenment of the Integral followers. Buddhahood has always been the discovery of the true golden primordial self within the body, which is the enlightened point of divine origin within the speciesthe embryo of enlightenment/immortality. The Uttara Tantra describes the human condition of ignorance, which unknowingly ignores the enlightened potential of the golden treasure within the body.

Because the perfect buddhas’s kaya is all-pervading, Because reality is undifferentiated, And because they possess the potential, Beings always have the buddha nature. - Maitreya, Sublime Continuum, Uttara Tantra I, 27

The Integral confusion is based on poor scholarship, and a lack of direct experience, that has substituted the pseudo-nonduality of modern Zen and Advaita Vedanta for the real map of the stages of meditation/consciousness evolution. Since the Integral experts have not experienced real enlightenment, the proven Chinese formula of immortality, which has been used successfully for thousands of years, and is the basis of East Asian medical theory, has not been included in the evolutionary philosophy of awakening. The inner alchemical formula is simple and natural, and occurs spontaneously in the lives of genuine adepts with authentic lineage transmission of real nondual inner yoga systems. The actual Trikaya, the union of the microcosm of the body, with the macrocosm of the Buddhaverse is the result. (I must credit Robert Thurman for the term Buddhaverse).

The formula of inner alchemical meditation, jing, chi, shen, wu, Tao, is successfully proven by the consensus of illuminated Asian adepts that have completed the process, and transcended time, space and causality. This is well known in China, but has been completely excluded from the Western narrative of mysticism. Jing, the reproductive energy of the body, is refined into chi. The chi is used to incubate the starting point of the body which hatches into the Original Spirit/Face when the process is complete. The Original Spirit, the embryo of enlightenment, is embraced by the subtle body, dissolving into it completely, returning the Dharmakaya to void, and transforming the normal yin subtle body to yang. The real Dharmakaya is the embryo of enlightenment. The void is then reunited with the Tao post-Coniunctio, the human microcosm synchronized with the macrocosm, the Unus Mundus, heaven, earth and man united as a single unified field. Buddhahood means that your cosmic location is beyond the origin of time prior to cause and effect. The primordial luminous universal mind of the void is the true authentic enlightened source of yourself. According to Dzogchen, the true nature of the individual has always been enlightenmentthe Dharmakaya. Primordial awakening is based on direct recognition of this point of illuminated origin according to the highest Tantric theory.

The Real Illuminati

The theistic nonduality of Integral evolutionary awakening is also based on a complete misunderstanding of the Holy Grail of the Illuminati, the Philosopher’s Stone. Using the Chinese Neidan system as a model, it becomes possible to understand some of the key aspects of the Hermetic tradition, which appear to have a Greco-Egyptian Gnostic origin. The history of the world has always been the history of secret societies. Taoist, Dzogchen, and Mahamudra systems still retain the working mechanism of the Holy Grail of the Illuminati, and secret societies that were based on a complete kundalini activation.

The true left handed path is one is which ten months of ritual sexual yoga practice results in the Hermetic Androgyne and the Coniunctio, the union of subtle and super subtle bodiesthe secret of inner illumination. The complete version of a kundalini activation, the super subtle body or embryo of enlightenment, was the occult secret of many Illuminati traditions throughout history. We are merely defining the Illuminati as individuals who have achieved inner illumination and the opening of the third eye. The twin serpents of the caduceus represent the Coniunctio, the goal of early science, which was never lost in China.

“This is the way of God.”

If the three bodies corpus, anima and spiritus, (physical, subtle and super subtle), are united by the inner alchemical transmutation, the fall of man is reversed, the third eye of illumination is opened, and the adept becomes identical to Christ, Hermes Trismegistus or the Godhead. Depending on the lineage historically, the adept becomes identical to the founder of the lineage, and the original enlightened beginning of the species according to the theory. The oroborus illustrates the process of the Coniunctio, which is the golden elixir of immortality in multiple Illuminati lineages in many cultures. The left handed path is actually the basis of the Chinese medical system, and the story of the Yellow Emperor achieving immortality through the process of sexual inner alchemical yoga. The oldest occult knowledge of the human race is the use of sexual yoga to achieve inner illumination/enlightenment.

Rebis

The branches of Gnosticism, which described Christ as identical to the serpent, represented pre-modern post-rational descriptions of the embryo of enlightenment, or Rebis, in a highly metaphorical and mythic style. As the kundalini tradition suggests, the serpent or dragon represents the super subtle body, the true face of the Godhead, lying dormant in all human beings. The Illuminati Holy Grail, the Hermetic Androgyne, embryonic enlightenment, is the basis of early science in the form of the Philosopher’s Stone. Integral Theory has not understood the true meaning of occult science because genuine inner illumination is not achieved by a philosophy of evolution. The serpent or dragon has always been the symbol of the serpent power within man, which opens the eye of enlightened awareness.

The problem with dualism is that the unenlightened historically describe enlightenment as evil when they haven’t achieved the highest stage of initiation, for purposes of political control. The highest stage of initiation is the complete union of the three bodies, corpus, anima, and spiritus. Dragons represent power, divinity, majesty and enlightenment/immortality in China, and the civilization identifies itself as the ancestors of the dragon, because thousands of individuals have successfully used the inner alchemical formula, jing, chi, shen, wu, Tao to achieve immortality. Immortality does not mean that the physical body does not die. It means that the subtle body has been transformed from yin to yang, the original higher dimensional frequency. Western European alchemical traditions describe this as turning the soul to gold. The Emerald Tablet was the highly metaphorical formula for this process.

The Emerald Tablet

It is true without lying, certain and most true. That which is Below is like that which is Above and that which is Above is like that which is Below to do the miracles of the Only Thing. And as all things have been and arose from One by the mediation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father; the Moon its mother; the Wind hath carried it in its belly; the Earth is its nurse. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into Earth. Separate the Earth from the Fire, the subtle from the gross, sweetly with great industry. It ascends from the Earth to the Heavens and again it descends to the Earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world and thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing. So was the world created. From this are and do come admirable adaptations, whereof the process is here in this. Hence am I called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended.Issac Newton’s Translation of the Emerald Tablet

Kundalini theory is similar, represented by the caduceus, and described as the serpent power of inner illumination, which lies dormant within the first chakra at the base of the spine. The basic theory is that the energy of the first chakra is the secret of awakening when moved to the brain. The first chakra is the divine spark of origin within the body. Modern systems of consciousness evolution have often lost the process of the Coniunctio, the union of subtle and super subtle bodies, which is called the union of mother and child lights in the Mahamudra tradition of inner illumination. Mahamudra means Great Seal, and like the Hermetic seal of alchemy refers to immortality or complete inner illumination being achieved by karmamudra or sexual yoga. This lineage states there can be no Mahamudra or Tantric Buddhahood, without karmamudra or sexual yoga. The mother light is the primordial Dharmakaya body of reality, the super subtle body, generated by the inner alchemical firing process, that literally turns the subtle body, the anima or soul, to pure golden yang. Chinese alchemy describes inner illumination/immortality as the union of the yin soul and yang spirit, the Coniunctio, the marriage of the dragon and tiger.

Caduceus

The Garden of Eden story demonizes the kundalini/embryo of enlightenment, which literally reverses the fall of man, and awakens the third eye resulting in the deification of the individual. The oldest lost Illuminati knowledge of the human race is that sexual yoga and the human reproductive system are the mechanisms of complete inner illumination/immortality. Probably, the dominant political structure was challenged by illuminated adepts like Jesus, who some Gnostic sects considered identical to the serpent, the ancient symbol of wisdom and immortality. The oroborus has always been the universal symbol of the illuminated adept in civilizations that were based on inner alchemical wisdom traditions. The caduceus, the Rod of Asclepius, and the uraeus, are other depictions of the serpent power within all human beings, as the divine spark, which lies dormant within the uninitiated who are asleep.

Rod of Asclepius

Western medicine is still represented by the kundalini symbolism of the Illuminati traditions. Dragons and serpents represent higher knowledge in many civilizations, and depict healing and enlightenment. Integral Theory is so confused by its own evolutionary dualistic worldview, that it describes the oroborus as pre-rational myth, when it is actually a depiction of post-rational Tantric Buddhahood. The Coniunctio, the union of subtle and super subtle bodies, the goal of meditation and enlightenment, is the lost Illuminati secret of immortality, which represents true Gnosis. The end result is true inner illuminationthe opening of the third eye, the original experience of real nondual enlightenment.

The Serpent Power

Let us examine Integral Theory, hypothetically, from the perspective of the original Gnostic Illuminati, the legendary Brotherhood of the Serpent. It appears that the Hermetic system of the Illuminati is part of a worldwide tradition of kundalini activation based on inner alchemical practices, which has been ignored by Western science in modern times. The Dzogchen tradition of Tibet, in particular, appears to be an ancient path of inner illumination in central Asia, which is independent of Buddhism and much older. All of these vehicles to complete inner illumination have a common core, which is the dormant enlightened super subtle body within all human beings, the embryo of enlightenment. The fact that Integral Theory is not aware of this obvious, and well-documented historical truth is astonishing, based on its claims of all inclusiveness. The Alaya consciousness and the Tathagatagharba of Buddhism refer to this reality body of absolute truth in Buddhism, and this is the real Original Face, which appears at the completion stage of meditation. Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen, gave his foremost disciple a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra that he had brought with him to China from India, which describes the Alaya consciousness, and the Tathagatagharba as equivalent. This knowledge of primordial enlightened origin, is not on the Integral map, and theoretically will eventually change the territory of Western science and evolution completely when Nirvana is understood.

From a highly speculative perspective, the concept of inner illumination in a secret society, which worshipped the serpent as God, was based on a kundalini/golden embryo activation, which opens the third eye, and results in the original enlightened state of the first human being. This process was believed to reverse the fall of man, and restore the original illuminated state of grace. This knowledge was considered to be the most valuable secret on earth, because it enabled the adept to fully transcend the human condition of ignorance and unconsciousness, and become identical to God. Many ancient religions had the goal of immortality/enlightenment underlying the narrative of spiritual awakening, the union of physical, subtle and super subtle bodies, corpus, anima and spiritus.

Integral Theory has not understood the real Tantric theory of enlightenment that results in the Trikayathe true nondual absolute. The Gnostic systems appear to have a Greco-Egyptian alchemical origin. The uraeus clearly depicts a kundalini activation that results in the opening of the third eye, being connected to royal divinity. Alchemy was known as the royal art in many civilizations. In my opinion, the most dramatic error of Integral Theory is the exclusion of a worldwide tradition of inner alchemy, which results in enlightenment in multiple civilizations including Western Europe, which has been rejected by science and modern culture as an ancient superstitious myth. This supposed myth, is actually the goal of meditation, the real Dharmakaya/Original Face, which has the potential to return any individual who successfully completes the process of awakening to complete enlightenment. This is the real meaning of the primordial enlightenment of the Original Mind.

Any real study of meditation, yoga, tai chi, and qi gong theories of spiritual awakening, should result in this alchemical narrative revealing itself as the essential story of enlightenment/super consciousness that underlies religion and science in multiple world civilizations, including our own. Unfortunately, for Integral Theory, this means that evolution is backward from the enlightened perspective of the contemplative traditions that it claims are genuine and scientific. If Buddhahood is fact, evolutionary theory is wrong as it currently describes the origin of consciousness, which has always been primordial enlightenment according to contemplative traditions.

Uraeus

The modern Western study of meditation has completely ignored the theory of embryonic enlightenment, which explains the basic religious idea of the divine spark within man, as well as the Biblical story of man being created in God’s image. In a theistic culture, the Original Face might have been described as the Face of God within. Clearly, Buddha chose to describe the narrative nontheistically, because worshipping external deities and ritual practices do not result in liberation, which is the Original Face/Dharmakaya. I have to acknowledge that Hinayana Buddhism does not have the concept of the three bodies or the sexual yoga practices of later Vajrayana systems.

An explanation for this would be that the Tantric method was known in China and other countries, long before Buddhism and eventually created new models of Buddhist enlightenment as practitioners exchanged methodologies between civilizations. Tibetan Buddhism is a good example where the enlightened deities are depicted artistically in sexual union, which is called yab/yum, the Tibetan pronunciation of yin and yang.

Yab/Yum

The key motif in Tibetan religious art is this yab/yum depiction of the Coniunctio, the union of subtle and super subtle bodies that results in enlightenment. Western scholars have not understood the theory of inner alchemy and the mechanism of enlightenment, the union of the yang pre-birth consciousness and yin post-birth consciousness or energy, has been considered to be metaphorical. The Integral description of enlightenment, nondual oneness with everything, doesn’t come close to the original traditions’ definition of inner illumination, and has created a distorted American version that has nothing to do with the authentic experience of the Original Face. The sexual yoga method is much more consistent than the normal meditation model in terms of genuine inner illumination, if taught by a real teacher. It has also been one of the most secretive methods in Chinese and Indo-Tibetan traditions. The Taoist concept is that the nine/ten-month gestation period of an embryo can be reversed energetically, recreating the process of human originconception, the primordial union of yin and yang. This meditation model of reversal or regression back to the source, clearly explained in both Zen and Taoism has been completely rejected by Integral Theory. Integral Theory has created its own definition of nondual enlightenment, which has nothing to do with genuine awakening as defined by true Asian traditions of inner illumination. This dramatic error prevents the spiritual evolution of Integral practitioners and must be addressed and corrected.

Both science and Integral Theory are dependent on a narrative of human evolution, which denies the reality of the enlightened origin of consciousness, the Original Face of the golden embryo of enlightenment. Genuine inner illumination that fully opens the third eye, changes the metanarrative of Western civilization so completely, that what remains is a Bodhisattva worldview in which human beings are sleeping Buddhas. From the perspective of the Bodhisattvas, the purpose of the evolution of culture and consciousness is a rediscovery of the super subtle body, the Dharmakaya or embryo of enlightenment as the Holy Grail, or secret of immortality, which lies dormant within the human reproductive system. The Integral definition of awakening is based on a Western psychological definition of mysticism, which prevents a scientific explanation of enlightenment, and the spiritual realization of the evolutionaries.

Instead of genuine enlightenment, an inflated myth of American superiority and exceptionalism has come to define a philosophy of evolution, which claims a meditation paradigm of knowledge acquisition is scientifically viable. The promise of uniting Eastern and Western descriptions of ultimate human potential, and creating a map of fully illuminated higher stages of consciousness has not emerged successfully. The territory has been completely and dishonestly changed to fit the map, which is composed of inaccurate generalizations and flawed given assumptions. This is completely unacceptable from a Bodhisattva perspective.

The union of the three bodies, corpus, anima and spiritus, which reverses the fall of man, uniting the microcosm of the human body with the macrocosm of the cosmos, has not been understood as the goal and origin of authentic spiritual awakening that opens the third eye. The core knowledge of the Gnostic Illuminati, the Coniunctio, the marriage of the yin lunar soul with the yang solar spirit, has not been comprehended as the real experience of the true Holy Grailthe golden elixir.

Oroborus

Throughout history the disclosure of the Illuminati sacred knowledge of the kundalini serpent power within, the embryo of enlightenment, has always been a threat to the dominant political power structure. Since Integral Theory is a business, it has a vested interest in maintaining power by marginalizing and discrediting genuine inner illumination, the secret of immortality/enlightenment, which it is currently unable to explain, much like conventional Western religious cults of ignorance. Like any standard spiritual establishment narrative, it can’t handle the truth, which results in real liberation, and seeks to discredit the actual traditional viewpoints, which are accurate. The truth is that the completion stage of meditation negates the Western evolutionary theory of human origins. This means that the entire framework of Western religious, scientific, and philosophical worldviews is incomplete and highly distorted. This distortion actually prevents the human race from discovering its own authentic enlightened identity, which is the true nature of the origin of consciousness, and the real goal of meditation. The true initiate is a Bodhisattva, and this level of awakening can only be achieved by virtue of integrity, and the assistance of others who have awakened.

Currently, Integral Theory lacks the integrity that is necessary to enable the evolution of culture and consciousness that is theoretically possible, if the real story of enlightened human potential, the ultimate reality body within, the Dharmakaya, is understood collectively. A real Bodhisattva has the ability to tell the story accurately and does not create a further distorted myth for reasons of personal gain. Enlightenment cannot be bought or sold for it is true freedom. Ignorance is slavery. From a Gnostic perspective the Biblical creation story reverses good and evil, and creates a slave system of ignorance and darkness based on unconsciousness.

The real prophets, like Jesus or other adepts, theoretically had the ability, post Coniunctio, to reveal the real story of divine origin, and the ultimate enlightened potential of the human race, in the language and religious frameworks of their times. Unfortunately, time, translation and political power struggles have resulted in highly distorted versions of the original message. Additionally, there have always been confused false prophets and teachers. This process of the distortion of enlightened teachings of truth, for purposes of personal gain, appears to be shaping the current evolution of Integral Theory.

Correcting the Integral definition of enlightenment would be a first step toward the creation of an authentic philosophical system, which results in a scientific explanation of awakening. You just can’t say that you are helping God evolve as the cutting edge of evolutionary emergence if you are unable to accurately explain the base, path, and fruit of Dzogchen/Ati primordial inner yoga theory, and have chosen to change it completely. The real truth is Buddhahood, which has nothing to do with Turiya, the Witness, Spirit, Eros, and emptiness as the Godhead. As Elias Capriles, a twenty-year teacher and practitioner of Dzogchen, has pointed out on Integralworld, calling the Dharmakaya the causal body when you have received authentic Dzogchen teachings, is a confused, deceptive, egotistical act, which intentionally prevents the Dzogchen framework of enlightenment from being understood/experienced. This creates a distorted monstrosity in the process, because of an inflated sense of superiority, in which the theistic Western bias of Integral Theory assumes it knows better than the last three thousand years of Dzogchen masters, who have achieved enlightenment without remainder.

There are many different theories of meditation and awakening which vary dramatically in terms of results and methodology. A first step in creating a genuine Integral Theory of Tantric inner illumination that actually works would require the honesty to disclose the fact that genuine spiritual awakening cannot be integrated with science and evolution in their current form. This also holds true for modern and postmodern Western philosophy, which cannot possibly acknowledge Tantric Buddhahood/immortality as a living reality. It could be argued that a true post-postmodern post-metaphysical meta-Integral Theory would be a combination of qi gong, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen methodologies of enlightenment that would emerge in Europe. Americans are too lost in their own inflated, biased, exceptionalism and myth of superiority to really complete the goal of creating an Integral Bodhisattva world civilization, based on the Original Face of enlightenment in the twenty first century. Unfortunately, the dominant power structure, whether religious, scientific, philosophical or Integral has defined inner alchemy as myth. From the perspective of the fully initiated Bodhisattva adept, the process of awakening is dependent on the idea of the super subtle body, the embryo of enlightenment, being accurately described and explained scientifically by the Integral sangha. Western descriptions of mysticism have further distorted the theory and practice of inner illumination, by demonizing the most effective methodology as the left-handed path.

The human reproductive system contains the actual mechanism of enlightenment as Chinese and Indian medicine has maintained for thousands of years. This scientific fact, completely rejected by the West, was ancient knowledge at the time of the Yellow Emperor thousands of years ago. It was also well known in Europe before alchemy evolved into chemistry. The chief obstacle to individual and collective awakening can be defined as the Western establishment narrative of science, religion and cultural evolution. At this point the Integral definition of enlightenment and spiritual evolution has unknowingly become an unreliable and false narrator. The theory of meditation and enlightenment has simply not been understood, or defined correctly. Evolution and cultural progression do not change the basic fact that the origin of human consciousness is complete nondual enlightenment, and this can be realized by using the correct methodology to unite the three bodies, physical, subtle, and super subtle into a single whole - Buddhahood/immortality. This is the true nature of the human condition from a post-Tantric Buddhahood perspective.

The Srimaladevi Sutra

Lord, the Tathagatagarbha is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality. The Tathagatagarbha is not the domain of beings who fall into the belief in a real personality, who adhere to wayward views, whose thoughts are distracted by voidness. Lord, this Tathagatagarbha is the embryo of the Illustrious Dharmadhatu, the embryo of the Dharmakaya, the embryo of the supramundane dharma, the embryo of the intrinsically pure dharma. [E]ither covered by defilements, when it is called only "embryo of the Tathagata"; or free from defilements, when the "embryo of the Tathagata" is no more the "embryo" (potentiality) but the Tathagata (=the Dharmakaya)(actuality). This Dharmakaya of the Tathagata when not free from the store of defilement is referred to as the Tathagatagarbha. - The Lion's Roar of Queen Srimala, 2nd Century CE